Why is the bridge of a vessel never the primary target?
-1
In essence, I'm talking about situations where there are naval vessels or capital-class space ships in combat in any fictional universe that has them, along with their typically highly exposed command bridge.
I mean, it's literally sticking out like a sore thumb, with the words "Marvel at my poor military design and SHOOT ME!!!" in bright, neon letters written across it. Yet, in most of the versions of the theme that I read or watch, the forces on either side never seem to aim at this obvious vulnerability immediately at the start of a battle, even if it's feasible to do so. Usually, the capital vessels go toe-to-toe with each other, conveniently shooting EVERY part of the ships they attack, EXCEPT for the command bridge. Which is sort of ironic if you consider the intent of attacking someone with a massive, armed capital ship that has a highly exposed command bridge. If even ONE conventional weapon struck the bridge of an enemy vessel, the whole warship would likely be literally rendered useless, with little effort.
Even the pilots of strike craft, which are typically agile enough to negate standard hull defenses of most capital ships, never seem to attack the bridge head on. An exception would be for certain scenes, where the bridge crew stare in a terrified manner at the attacking strike craft, right before the decisive shot is fired. The violent end of the crew is then witnessed by the audience, supposedly to increase the perceived violence level. Not very efficient combat practice, considering how many depicted lives are typically lost in these fictional stories.
Is this lack of common combat sense in fiction simply for the sake of pacing a battle in these stories? I suppose if every section of the armed forces in such fiction always went straight for the throat, and ignored any sense of hesitation or mercy (like modern armed forces in real life that serve in actual combat are normally TRAINED to do), then battles would be over in a matter of minutes. But still, drawing out a battle needlessly is a bit of a turn-off for me.
I mean, it's literally sticking out like a sore thumb, with the words "Marvel at my poor military design and SHOOT ME!!!" in bright, neon letters written across it. Yet, in most of the versions of the theme that I read or watch, the forces on either side never seem to aim at this obvious vulnerability immediately at the start of a battle, even if it's feasible to do so. Usually, the capital vessels go toe-to-toe with each other, conveniently shooting EVERY part of the ships they attack, EXCEPT for the command bridge. Which is sort of ironic if you consider the intent of attacking someone with a massive, armed capital ship that has a highly exposed command bridge. If even ONE conventional weapon struck the bridge of an enemy vessel, the whole warship would likely be literally rendered useless, with little effort.
Even the pilots of strike craft, which are typically agile enough to negate standard hull defenses of most capital ships, never seem to attack the bridge head on. An exception would be for certain scenes, where the bridge crew stare in a terrified manner at the attacking strike craft, right before the decisive shot is fired. The violent end of the crew is then witnessed by the audience, supposedly to increase the perceived violence level. Not very efficient combat practice, considering how many depicted lives are typically lost in these fictional stories.
Is this lack of common combat sense in fiction simply for the sake of pacing a battle in these stories? I suppose if every section of the armed forces in such fiction always went straight for the throat, and ignored any sense of hesitation or mercy (like modern armed forces in real life that serve in actual combat are normally TRAINED to do), then battles would be over in a matter of minutes. But still, drawing out a battle needlessly is a bit of a turn-off for me.